Hoboken City Council overhauls residential parking code

Amy Sara Clark / Hoboken NowHoboken Councilwoman Beth Mason, center, questions Transportation and Parking Director Ian Sacs about his proposed changes to the resident parking permit code on Jan. 6, 2010 at Hoboken City Hall during a City Council meeting.The Hoboken City Council unanimously passed a series of changes tonight designed to make residential parking permits more fair.

Hoboken Transportation Director Ian Sacs said documents were routinely being accepted as proof of residency at the Parking Utility through an “exception” clause in the code, leading to “a large number of on-the-fly decisions.” Residents who read the existing code online might think they're not qualified for the permit and not apply, while others would decide to apply anyway and be granted exceptions.

What the new code does is clearly list which documents are allowed using a point system similar to the Motor Vehicle Commission.

“I don’t want to be making arbitrary decisions 30 percent of the time,” Sacs said. “I want to clean up the code,” he said.

Amy Sara Clark / Hoboken NowHoboken Transportation Director Ian Sacs discusses the parking code overhaul at tonight's City Council meeting.Sacs said he would create a committee made up of Parking Utility employees and resident volunteers to consider whatever exceptions still need to be made. The committee will submit recommendations to him for a final decision.

The ordinance also overhauls the rules that allow business owners to
purchase permits for employees that allow them to park on the
residential side of the street during work hours. The new rules require
business owners to provide a pay stub for each employee who receives
the permits. It also changes the price from $200 a year to $20 per
hour: an employee who requests a permit for 50 hours a week will still
pay $200, but one who works four hours a day will pay just $80 and one
who wants a 24/7 permit will pay $480.

Sacs said these rules will prevent abuse of these permits by employees who use them outside of work hours.

“I don’t want the person who schemes around the system to get something
that the spirit of the code wasn’t designed for,” he said.

Second Ward Councilwoman Beth Mason said she was concerned that the
ordinance didn't include certain essential changes, such as providing
provisions for Stevens students who live off campus to get resident
parking permits without having to change their driver’s license address
and car registration and a provision to allow residents to get resident
parking permits for rental cars.

Sacs and Councilman David Mello responded that these were good
suggestions that would be explored in a future subcommittee meeting and
that Sacs would come back to the council with revisions in a few months.

About half the non-metered spaces in Hoboken are reserved for residential parking permits.